Book cover via Amazon
After hearing so much about David Allen’s Getting Things Done — GTD has become the pop shorthand for it — and running into so many spin-offs, I bought the book almost a year ago. I was very impressed and immediately set up a GTD filing system for myself.
In the book, Allen describes a low-tech paper-based system. He encourages people to “dump” all of their ideas onto separate pieces of paper. I adopted the old-fashioned stenographer’s spiral pad, which I now have within an arm’s reach at ALL TIMES. These notes are torn out frequently and placed into a “To File” folder. At least once a week, perhaps more, one goes through the “To File” folder and shuffles the paper into more structured files: folders for each day of the month, project folders, next action folders and such. I’ve discovered the system quite workable.
Because Allen’s system is paper-based, it might appeal especially to writers. In fact, there’s a remarkable similarity between Allen’s system and some recommendations from the Maui Writers Conference about how to organize your thoughts for a big book project. In this case, the Maui workshop leaders recommended ideas on separate sheets of paper, organized into the proverbial stacks of papers piled up in an organized sequence on tables and floors. Most of us know and probably use that strategy often in our writing projects.
Of course, I went online to search for more information — and I was absolutely swamped with print outs, which I dutifully collected for a projected GTD series for this blog. The series has never materialized — due, quite frankly, to INFORMATION OVERLOAD!
Within the past two weeks, several GTD-related things have come to my attention, so I’ll pass along a few posts. They won’t be as organized as I would like. Still, I think I should go ahead and bring them to your attention.
Before I sign off today, I’m passing along a link to The Best Mac Software for Productivity and Getting Things Done, posted just a few minutes ago at Pete Williams blog PrenuerMarking. This blog is worth following by anyone interested in productivity and marketing. His insights are not limited to Mac users, though they do get some extra bonuses from the blog. By the way, I learned about the post so quickly via my Twitter account, which seems to increase in importance to me with each passing week.
Oh, and yes, you can buy Allen’s book from our blog’s bookstore, set up and organized by me, but powered by Amazon.
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Comment by
Pete Williams
19 Oct 2008
Hi Tom…
Great post and thanks for the link love.
I’d love to chat about an ‘interview’ for my blog on ‘how to tell a good story’… so much of ‘marketing’ is storytelling and I think my readers would really enjoy it.
Speak soon..
Pete
Comment by
Tom Colvin
20 Oct 2008
Thanks, Pete. Actually, I’m probably NOT the best person to interview about how to tell a story.
I’m mostly a non-fiction writer, with particular interest in writing productivity, marketing and such.
On the other hand, my major project is a massive historical tale that does involve story-telling, but I find myself writing a lot about historical context, in addition to weaving the storyline itself.
Maybe some enterprising reader of this blog will venture into the comments, read this and then offer him- or her-self up for an interview. Many of my readers are writing fiction.
In the meantime, I’m beginning to get your email newsletter, which I find quite informative. I hope we can stay in touch. Who knows? Maybe I should interview YOU!